{"agent_id":"marx","agent_name":"Karl Marx","slug":"historical-materialism","label":"Historical materialism: is the economic base determinant of the superstructure?","topic":"Historical materialism","question":"Is the economic base determinant of the superstructure?","position":"The materialist conception of history is the foundation of everything else. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and intellectual life-process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but their social being that determines their consciousness. The relations of production correspond to a definite stage of development of the material productive forces; the totality of these relations constitutes the economic structure of society — the real foundation, on which a legal and political superstructure rises and to which definite forms of social consciousness correspond. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces come into conflict with the existing relations of production; from forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an epoch of social revolution.","paragraphs":[[{"t":"The materialist conception of history is the foundation of everything else.","n":[]},{"t":"The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and intellectual life-process in general.","n":[]},{"t":"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but their social being that determines their consciousness.","n":[]},{"t":"The relations of production correspond to a definite stage of development of the material productive forces; the totality of these relations constitutes the economic structure of society — the real foundation, on which a legal and political superstructure rises and to which definite forms of social consciousness correspond.","n":[1,2,3,4]}],[{"t":"At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces come into conflict with the existing relations of production; from forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters.","n":[]},{"t":"Then begins an epoch of social revolution.","n":[5]}]],"texts":"The German Ideology (1845-46, the first formulation of the materialist conception of history); Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859, the most famous statement: 'It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness'); 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (the dialectic of agency and structure: 'men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please'); Capital Vol I, Part VIII on primitive accumulation. Reception: G.A. Cohen, Karl Marx's Theory of History (1978) — the analytical-Marxist functionalist defense; Louis Althusser, For Marx (1965) and Reading Capital (1965) — overdetermination and structural causality; E.P. Thompson, The Poverty of Theory (1978) against Althusser; Erik Olin Wright on class analysis; Engels's late letters on the 'last instance' qualification.","works":["The German Ideology (1845-46, the first formulation of the materialist conception of history)","Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859, the most famous statement: 'It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness')","18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (the dialectic of agency and structure: 'men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please')","Capital Vol I, Part VIII on primitive accumulation"],"reception":"G.A. Cohen, Karl Marx's Theory of History (1978) — the analytical-Marxist functionalist defense; Louis Althusser, For Marx (1965) and Reading Capital (1965) — overdetermination and structural causality; E.P. Thompson, The Poverty of Theory (1978) against Althusser; Erik Olin Wright on class analysis; Engels's late letters on the 'last instance' qualification.","status":"The most-attacked Marxian thesis and the central battleground for both vulgar economic-determinist readings (the textbook caricature) and Western-Marxist humanist softenings. G.A. Cohen (1978) provides the most rigorous analytical defense, reformulating the thesis as a functional explanation: relations of production are explained by their tendency to develop the productive forces. Althusser's \"overdetermination\" and \"structural causality\" attempt a non-economistic reading. Western-Marxist softenings (Lukács, Sartre, the Frankfurt School) emphasize consciousness and agency; Stedman Jones (2016) reads Marx as a 19th-century intervener whose later reception distorted the thesis.","era":"1818-1883","discipline":"Philosophy, Political Economy","refs":[{"n":1,"work":"Preface’ to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy","page":"p. 160","canonical":"","quote":"The totality of these relations of production forms the economic structure of society, the real basis *'Preface' to the* Critique of Political Economy from which rises a legal and political superstructure, and to which correspond specific forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life-process generally.","label":"Preface’ to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, p. 160"},{"n":2,"work":"EARLY WRITINGS","page":"pp. 427–428","canonical":"","quote":"The totality of these telations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life.","label":"EARLY WRITINGS, pp. 427–428"},{"n":3,"work":"Preface’ to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy","page":"pp. 160–161","canonical":"","quote":"From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then an epoch of social revolution commences. With the alteration of the economic foundation the whole colossal superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed.","label":"Preface’ to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, pp. 160–161"},{"n":4,"work":"A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"From forms of development of the forces of production these relations turn into their fetters. Then comes the period of social revolution. With the change of the economic foundation the entire immense superstructure is more or less rapidly transformed.","label":"A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy"},{"n":5,"work":"A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy","page":"","canonical":"","quote":"When, therefore, the publishers of the \"Rheinische Zeitung\" conceived the illusion that by a less aggressive policy the paper could be saved from the death sentence pronounced upon it, I was glad to grasp that opportunity to retire to my study room from public life.","label":"A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy"}],"answer":null,"siblings":[{"slug":"labor-theory-of-value-and-exploitation","label":"Labor theory of value and exploitation: is the LTV defensible against marginalist economics and analytical-Marxist reformulations?"},{"slug":"alienation-and-the-early-late-question","label":"Alienation and the early/late question: is there an 'epistemological break' between the 1844 humanist Marx and the mature Capital Marx?"},{"slug":"communism-the-state-and-the-dictatorship-of-the-proletariat","label":"Communism, the state, and the dictatorship of the proletariat: is the Commune model compatible with class power?"}]}